Paul follows the old bell to London to research it, Catherine and Mrs. The community is disbanded, and everybody leaves to pursue their passions. Nick forces Toby to confess his liaison with Michael to James and kills himself with his shotgun. Catherine attempts to drown herself, suffering a nervous collapse and admitting she is in love with Michael. Things culminate with the arrival of the new bell, which, due to Nick’s sabotage, ends up in the lake from which Toby and Dora have pulled the old bell. Michael agonizes over his hidden sexual feelings for men, which clash with his fantasy of becoming a priest, and Dora begins to understand herself and her wishes, deciding to leave her domineering husband and start an independent life. Dora and Toby develop a secret plan: Toby has found the old bell submerged in the lake, and they will supplant the new bell with the old to surprise everyone at the ceremony. Dora fights with her husband, and Toby develops a crush on her. The community is awaiting the arrival of a new bell for the convent.Īs passions run high, Michael kisses Toby and a strange connection develops between them, similar to what Michael once had with Nick when Nick was a teenager.
Additionally, Michael and James quarter Toby with Catherine’s twin brother, Nick, there to recuperate from a dissolute life in London. Mark Strafford, and beautiful Catherine Fawley, who is soon to enter the convent as a postulant. At Imber Court, Dora and Toby meet Michael Meade (the leader of the group), James Tayper Pace (second-in-command), Mr. Also on Dora’s train is a high school student, Toby Gashe, who plans on spending some time experiencing the commune. She is returning to her husband, Paul, who is currently researching the convent’s artifacts. This guide uses the Vintage Books, London, paperback edition of The Bell published in 2004.Ĭontent warning: The text refers to an illicit relationship between a teacher and a student.ĭora Greenfield, a young woman uncertain of her desires, arrives at Imber Court, a lay religious community attached to Imber Abbey, an enclosed Benedictine female order. The Times magazine ranked Murdoch 12th on their list of the “50 greatest British writers since 1945,” and her novel The Sea, The Sea won the coveted Booker Prize.
She wrote 26 novels, five books on philosophy, and a couple of collections of poetry. She majored in philosophy and classics at Oxford, and obtained a master’s degree at Cambridge University. Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was born in Ireland but her family moved to London a few weeks after her birth.
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